Improvement in telegraphic repeaters



No. 16,828. PATENTED MAR. 17, 1857.

BLG. FARMER L A. P.r WODMAN.

TELEGRAPHIC REPBA-TER.

` 2 BHEETS-SHBET 1.

No. 16.828. PATBNTBD MAR. 1v, 1857. M. G. FARMER & A. P. WooDMAN.

TBLBGRAPHIG REPEATBR.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

llllIlillllL UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

M. G. EA RMER, on SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS, AND A. E. wooDMAN, 0E

PORTLAND, MAINE.

IMPROVEMENT IN TELEGRAPHIC REPEATERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N0. 16,828, dated-March 17, 1857.

To all whom zt may concern:

,Bc it known that we, MOSES G. FARMER, of Salem, in the county of Essex andA State of Massachusetts, and ASA F. WooDMAN, of Portland, in the county of Cumberland and State of Maine, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Telegraphic Repeaters; and wedo hereby declare that the following specification and the accompanying drawings, with theirletters and references, con stitute a full and local circuit, which depended upon the instantaneous action at the proper time of a local magnet. This action,under certain circumstances, will not take placeV at such propertime,

Y and the consequence is that the dependent circuit breaks the independent circuit. With our repeater, to prevent suchbreaking of the independent circuit, we interpose a mechanical obstacle, which prevents such breakage until after both main circuits have been closed and their local armatures have been attracted to their magnets, and the operation is always certain.

Figure l of the drawings represents a top view, Fig. 2 a side elevation, and Fig. 3 a ver.-

tical central and longitudinal section, of our repeater.

In the drawings, upon a platform, h, are placed two local magn'ets,M M', with their armatures A A', retracting-springs F F', and stops c c', arranged as represented.

A rocking beam, B, is fixed upon a shaft, w, and has atits-top two inclined faces, P P', and two stops, It R',`as seen in Figs. 2 and 3. TWhen not operated upon by either or both of two cams,W W', this beam is maintained in a vertical positionr by the action of two springs, L L'. These cams IV XV' are placed on the adjacent ends'S- S' of the armature-levers G C', and they are'brought down into contact with the beam B (whenever the magnets M M' are discharged) by the retracting-power of the springs F F'.v Whenever either cam W W' is brought down against the beam B (said beam being in its vertical position) it tips .the beam to one side, so that when the other cam immediately afterward descends it will strike upon and be stopped by the top of the beam, and cannot descend farther until the beam again assumes its' vertical position, and, furthermore, it keeps the beam in such inclined position so long as it so rests upon the top of the beam. These devices of the beam and tipping-cams constitute the mechanism which effects the results we will now proceed to describe.

In Fig.,l are seen eight screw-cu ps, marked 1,2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. The cups 1 and 2 in clude the instrument in or receive the wires-of wh at we will term "eastern main circuit The cups 3 and 4 in a similar manner include the instrument in what may' be termed the western main circuit. The cups 5 and 6 re` ceive the wires of the western local cir'cu'it and the cups 7 and 8 those of the eastern local circuit. These circuit-wires and the relative position of the relay-magnets are shown by dotted lines in Fig. 3, and will be understood by the references'thereto on the drawings, Fig. 1 also showing some ofthe connecting-wires by dotted lines.

Two springs are placed one at each end of the platform h, (they being marked b b',) the tops of which are brought into contact or breakl contact with two metallicconnectors, qand q', as the armature-levers C C' are tipped to their full extent.. The connectors @1 q' receive from the cups -3 and 4 the ends ot' the two main-circuit wires y y', and the springs I) b' receive from cups l 2 the ends of the other main-circuit wires, the other ends of said wires y y' proceeding east and west through the relaymagnets, and the other ends of wires z z proceeding to the battery,and thence to the ground, thus completing these main circuits. The connectors q q' are attached to insulated pipes n n' on the outer ends of the armature-levers. If, now, when the armatures M M' are both attracted to their magnets, one ot' the main circuits-say the eastern-is-brok en at any distant station, the armature A' will be retracted by its spring F', the wedge lV' will descend and tilt the beam B, the point of the spring' b' will slip from contact with thejcon-nector q and break the Western main circuit at this point.` This will discharge the Western local magnet M, Whose armature A would be retracted by its spring F, and its cam or Wedge W would strike upon and ,be stopped by the top of the inclined beam Bi and prevent the breaking of ..coutact of the spring b and connector q, which 'f and the beam B,`being thus released vfrom the action and contact of the wedges W W', will assume its vertical position by the action of its spring L.-

Our improvement is further illustrated in Fig. et of the accompanying drawings, to which.

the following letters and references allude: A2 A3 represent two distant stati-ons, our instrunient being supposed to be placed at an intermediate one. NOW, from what has been said before, it will be readily understood that if, for instance, the independent circuit be broken by an operator at A2, the relay-magnet at B2 will be discharged, and this will dischargethe local magnet at C2 and break the dependent circuit at x2. This will cause the lever B to be tipped, and thereby, as before explained, prevent the independent circuit being broken at the in strument or at mi. v

From this description it will be Seen that the main circuit which is first broken (which may be called the independent circuit determines Whieh way the beam B shall incline, and that this inclination, while it allows the instrument to break the dependent circuit, prevents it from breaking the independent circuit in the instrument.

What We claim as ourfinreution or improvement in telegraphic repeaters is The use of a mechanical obstacle essentially in the manner as set forth, whereby, when the independent circuit has broken the dependent circuit atl the instrument, the dependent circuit is prevented from breaking the independ ent circuit.

. 1u testimony whereof we have hereto set our signatures this 11th day of October, A. l). 1856.

MOSES G. FARMER. ASA F. VVOODMAN.

Witnesses:

J oHN NOBLE, FRANcIs GoULD. 

